Millions of words flowed from the serpentine hills of western Tasmania. The Waratah and Adamsfield districts produced `point metal osmiridium, used to tip the gold nibs of fountain pens. For a time in the early 1900s Tasmania had a world monopoly on point metal `ossie' an alloy much more valuable than gold. Sent to New York and London to drive Waterman, Swan, Sheaffer, Parker, Onoto and Conway Stewart pens, Tasmanian osmiridium became a signatory to startling world events. It also bolstered family budgets at home. To be `on the ossie' was to have the chance to escape poverty and drudgery. Like gold strikes across the globe, Tasmania's rare earth quickened diggers pulses and, astonishingly, inspired a challenge to Hollywood dominance of Australian cinemas.